After 35 years of compulsory retirement from
Nigerian Army, an octogenarian and former Director General of the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Colonel Peter Obasa (rtd), on Thursday asked
President Muhammadu Buhari to use his good office to offset all its outstanding
entitlements.
Obasa, who spoke with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State
capital, said he had received no letter of dismissal from the Nigerian Army to
have informed nonpayment of his entitlement.
According to him, "I made my appeal to the president
in the name of Almighty God, in the names of all that are holy, in the names of
all that are good, true and just, to give me justice of the type that will
attract the approval of God."
The octogenarian, who presented a book titled: ‘House
of Exile’, during the press conference, chronicled his experiences in 1984, his
prison accounts, the country's democracy and judiciary.
"The Federal Republic of Nigeria official
gazette No 56 of November 6, 1986, under the Ministry of Defence, Nigerian Army
officers, voluntary/compulsory and dismissal page 1340 declares that I was
compulsorily retired from the army. Under that condition, I should be entitled
to my gratuity and pension. The Army has denied me both.
"They claim that I was dismissed. If that was
the case, a letter to that effect would have been served on me, and the army
would have withdrawn my officer's sword, ceremonial dress, mess jacket and
service suit. I received no letter, and I am still in possession of the items
mentioned above.
"Like President Muhammadu Buhari, I am
favoured by God. I fought through the tumultuous and terrifying period of my
trial and more than seven years in incarceration, and I am here by the special
grace of God to ask for true justice. The world wrote me off, some claiming
that I would not exit the jail house. How wrong they were. God Almighty fights
for the innocent," he said.
Obasa described his trial by the Supreme Military
Council (SMC) headed by General Muhammadu Buhari, as illegalities of 1984,
saying the SMC promulgated decrees that had retroactive effect.
He said: "The laws were backdated by three
years. This is immoral and illegal. The God of creation made laws which he
handed over to Moses. Those laws became effective from the time they were read
to the Israelites.
"The SMC took over the roles of the executive,
legislature and judiciary, the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge. This is
illegal. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) condemned this and prohibited its
members from appearing before the tribunals to defend accused persons."
Obasa added: "The process of trial was gravely
flawed. Trials were in secret. The
public was denied access to the tribunals and it was only when judgements were
passed that the world became informed of the verdict.
"All statements from suspects were extracted
under duress. This is illegal.
"Accused persons were compelled long before
trial began to sign away the contents of their accounts under duress by the
same characters who came to testify at the tribunal that the accused willingly
signed away everything. This is illegal."
He stressed that "falsified documents (as
exhibits) were brought into the tribunal by the Special Investigation Panel.
This too is illegal.
"Accused people were incarcerated in solitary
confinement, denied access to their family and prevented from reaching anything
that would enhance their defence. This is illegal.”
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